To our southern neighbours, Happy Thanksgiving! Up in Canada, we can feel the excitement building! Indulge! Enjoy! The diet starts next week, eh?
Kids coming to visit? Sometimes it's stressful thinking of things for them to do, especially if there are no kids (and therefore no toys, games, books, etc.) in your home. Here are a few suggestions...
1. Family walks, visiting your local playground and even a trip to your local indoor swimming pool should all be on your "list".
2. In addition, stop by your public library and stock up on books. From the fiction section, check out stories by these authors: Patricia Polacco, Roald Dahl, Ursula LeGuin, Jan Brett, Eric Carle, Doreen Cronin, Barbara Reid, Joanna Cole.
3. Kids love to cook. As long as there's some supervision as they use the mixer and cut the cherries, this cookie recipe is a simple recipe for kids to try. It's a family favourite in our house.
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| Whipped Shortbread from The Best of Bridge |
Whipped Shortbread
from The Best of Bridge
1 cup butter
1 1/2 cups flour
1/2 cup icing sugar
Beat for 10 minutes in mixer.
Drop from teaspoon onto cookie sheet.
maraschino cherries
Cut cherries into four.
Dry on a paper towel.
Place cherry bits on cookies.
Bake at 350ºF for about 17 minutes.
Note: Check out the Best of Bridge website if you haven't already. This recipe is listed there, but be careful. The time on the website is incorrect.
4. Another recipe kids love to try is Kool Aid playdough. You'll need one packet of Kool Aid powder plus flour, salt and oil. A hunt around the kitchen - cookie cutters, toothpicks, straws, plastic knife and fork - and you're all set to go.
5. Since it's Thanksgiving, you might want to view these four short videos so you and your young visitors can learn more about the first Thanksgiving. They're very well done. You'll enjoy them, too.
6. For older kids, teens and adults, viewing Into Poverty: Living on One Dollar, would be very relevant and a great starting point for a meaningful discussion this weekend. This video is about four young people who visit rural Guatemala. They allow themselves 56 dollars each for 56 days. They learn a lot about themselves and the reality of what life is like for so many people. Heather Sanders, a guest writer on The Pioneer Woman, provides a link and describes this documentary and sharing it with her children.
Have a great weekend,
Maggie
At 9 years old Amara is really beginning to understand that holidays like Thanksgiving are only celebrated here in the United States and that similar holidays are celebrated in other countries but on different days. Hard for children to understand how big the world really is.
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